News White Sox Team Notes

White Sox View Miguel Vargas As Primary Third Baseman

White Sox manager Will Venable tells James Fegan of Sox Machine that Miguel Vargas is viewed as the club’s primary option at third base. He is playing a bit of first base in camp as well but will mostly line up at the hot corner.

Vargas, 25, became a key piece of the roster last summer. Prior to last year’s deadline. the Sox lined up a three-team trade with the Dodgers and Cardinals. Chicago gave up Erick Fedde, Michael Kopech, Tommy Pham and cash in that deal. In return, they received three minor leaguers, with Vargas being more of a high-profile addition than Alexander Albertus or Jeral Perez.

A few years ago, Vargas was a top 100 prospect. Baseball America gave him the #29 spot going into 2023. That’s largely on account of his huge numbers against minor league pitching, though he hasn’t yet translated that to the majors. He has hit .175/.273/.312 in 591 big league plate appearances thus far.

But over the past three years, he has hit .297/.412/.512 in 996 Triple-A appearances. That was in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League but his 15.6% walk rate and 16.7% strikeout rate in that time were both great and wRC+ still considered him to be 31% better than league average.

Defensively, Vargas primarily played third base on his way up the minor league ladder, though the Dodgers moved him around the diamond. That was partially to improve his chances of cracking their crowded roster but also because his defense at the hot corner hasn’t been especially highly rated. He spent time at second base, first base and left field.

After acquiring him last year, the Sox gave him 36 starts at third and one in left. They overhauled their staff since then, bringing in Venable to be the new manager in 2025. It seems the new skipper doesn’t change the plan and they will give Vargas some run at the hot corner and see how it goes. Obviously, making offensive strides at the major league level is going to be important for Vargas but finding a viable defensive home is also going to be key. Now is a good time for the Sox to experiment, since they clearly have no hope of contending in the near term after their historically bad season in 2024. Vargas is still under control for five years, so there’s some time to come up with a clear answer.

The Sox signed infielder Josh Rojas to a one-year, $3.5MM deal last month. He has played more third base than any other position in his career, over 2,000 innings, but has over 1,000 innings at second as well. He’s also dabbled in the outfield corners, at shortstop and first base.

Perhaps Rojas will end up securing the second base job, if Vargas is at third. He will have some competition from Lenyn Sosa, though Sosa has hit just .229/.257/.347 in his big league career thus far and may get pushed into a bench/utility job. Rookie Colson Montgomery could perhaps take the Opening Day shortstop job. Infielders Jacob Amaya, Brooks Baldwin and Bryan Ramos are also on the 40-man roster with Brandon Drury and Nick Maton providing some non-roster depth.

Elsewhere on the roster, right-hander Prelander Berroa has been diagnosed with a grade 1 elbow strain, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Merkin says “it looks as if” Berroa can avoid Tommy John surgery “in the short term,” with next steps to be determined.

Berroa, 25 in April, came to the Sox as part of the Gregory Santos trade about a year ago. He has a 3.05 earned run average in 20 2/3 innings thus far in his career between the M’s and White Sox. Control has been an issue, with a 17.6% walk rate in the big leagues thus far. However, he’s also shown huge strikeout stuff, punching out 31.9% of major league hitters faced.

Obviously, a Tommy John surgery would be unwelcome, leading to an absence of over a year. The Sox will explore other options for the time being to see if there’s a way to get him back on the mound that doesn’t involve a surgeon’s scalpel.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/02/white-sox-view-miguel-vargas-as-primary-third-baseman.html
 
White Sox Planning To Use Mike Clevinger As Reliever

Mike Clevinger has started 142 of his 156 career Major League games, and only one of his 14 relief appearances has come during Clevinger’s last six seasons. However, now that the right-hander has returned to the White Sox on a minor league deal, the team intends to look at Clevinger as relief pitching during Spring Training and into the regular season.

“Everything looks really crisp, and just hopefully we can continue to give him opportunities to see what it looks like out of the bullpen and hopefully it all lines up,” Sox manager Will Venable told MLB.com’s Scott Merkin and other reporters. “I think the focus right now is getting into the routine of shortening down, and seeing what the recovery looks like in between appearances. We’ll go from there as we continue to build out our roster.”

The decision is a little surprising given Clevinger’s history as a starter, and the lack of experience within Chicago’s rotation. Martin Perez was signed to a one-year, $5MM to be the veteran anchor of the staff, and Bryse Wilson (who has pitched in each of the last seven MLB seasons) was brought in as at least a swingman, and possibly a full-time rotation member. Beyond that duo, Jonathan Cannon and Sean Burke only made their big league debuts last season, and Davis Martin has 113 1/3 innings over parts of the 2022 and 2024 seasons.

Still, it isn’t surprising that the rebuilding White Sox want to see what these younger arms (plus others competing for rotation jobs) have to offer, rather than give innings to the 34-year-old Clevinger. The new bullpen role also reflects the reality of Clevinger’s abbreviated and injury-riddled 2024 season, as he was limited to 16 innings due to elbow inflammation and then a disc surgery on his neck in early August. Clevinger also didn’t sign until early April, so he spent his first month ramping up in the minors before making his 2024 debut in May.

On the injury front, Clevinger told Merkin that he is feeling far better in the aftermath of the neck procedure, and also provided some insight into just how many additional issues he was facing due to his disc problem.

“That first night after surgery I slept better than I had in probably six months. I was throwing two weeks after that, and now I feel as healthy as I have since 2019,” Clevinger said. “I instantly was already moving my head around better. My [scapula] mobility got a lot better. I was sleeping better. I was throwing bullpens again. By the time I got back to lifting and throwing bullpens, all the numbness in my hand, the forearm muscles shutting down, all that stuff had already stopped.”

In regards to his bullpen job, Clevinger views the transition as “an interesting new challenge” after years of establishing his starting pitching routine. “It’s going to be finding the flow of things, when I’m getting ready, the throwing before the game, and just really ironing out those details is going to be the biggest challenge,” the right-hander said. “I don’t think it will be a problem. Mitigate each day to try to get back out there and go back-to-back days, three games in a row, and find that flow.”

If there seemed to be plenty of opportunity within the White Sox rotation, the bullpen is the same story. Sox GM Chris Getz said earlier this week that Clevinger could even receive consideration as the team’s closer, underscoring how fluid things are with Chicago’s roster.

Countless starting pitchers have revitalized their careers with moves to the bullpen, so there’s certainly a chance Clevinger could join this long list. Since the White Sox aren’t aiming to contend, every veteran player is a potential deadline trade chip, and a successful reliever version of Clevinger could certainly garner some interest by midseason.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/02/white-sox-planning-to-use-mike-clevinger-as-reliever.html
 
Eddie Fisher Passes Away

Former All-Star Eddie Fisher passed away on Monday at 88. His obituary was provided by an Oklahoma funeral home.

Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, Fisher moved to Oklahoma as a child. He attended OU before signing with the Giants in 1958. A knuckleballer, Fisher reached the majors within a year of signing his pro contract. He pitched sparingly over three seasons with San Francisco. The Giants included the 6’2″ righty in a trade package to the White Sox for veteran pitchers Billy Pierce and Don Larsen during the 1961-62 offseason.

Fisher spent parts of five seasons in Chicago. Working primarily as a long reliever, he rattled off four straight years with at least 120 innings and a sub-4.00 earned run average. Fisher had his best season in 1965, when he turned in a 2.40 ERA while leading the American League in appearances (82) and WHIP (0.974). He made his lone All-Star appearance, where he tossed two scoreless innings. Fisher finished fourth in AL MVP balloting behind Zoilo Versalles and future Hall of Famers Tony Oliva and Brooks Robinson.

It was more of the same in ’66. Fisher carried a 2.29 ERA over 35 1/3 innings for the White Sox, who swapped him to the Orioles for middle infielder Jerry Adair that June. Fisher tossed 71 2/3 frames with a 2.64 mark down the stretch for Baltimore. The O’s went on to win the World Series, getting Fisher the only ring of his career. He didn’t make an appearance in the Fall Classic. Baltimore’s sweep of the Dodgers included complete game shutouts from Jim Palmer, Wally Bunker and Dave McNally, so they had little need to use their bullpen.

Fisher continued to soak up innings out of the ’pen for multiple teams into the 1970s. He pitched one more season with Baltimore and spent four years with the California Angels, for whom he turned in a 3.22 ERA. He had a brief second stint with the White Sox and wrapped his career with the Cardinals in ’73.

He concluded a 15-year big league run with a 3.41 earned run average in more than 1500 innings. Fisher won 85 games and recorded 812 strikeouts. He finished 344 contests and was credited with 82 saves (most of them retroactively because the stat wasn’t officially tracked by MLB until 1969). MLBTR sends condolences to Fisher’s family, friends and loved ones.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/02/eddie-fisher-passes-away.html
 
Sean Burke To Open Season In White Sox’s Rotation

White Sox manager Will Venable informed the beat this afternoon that rookie righty Sean Burke will be in the season-opening rotation (relayed by Scott Merkin of MLB.com). The former third-round pick joins Martín Pérez, Davis Martin and Jonathan Cannon as locks for the Opening Day starting staff.

Chicago optioned lefty Jared Shuster, who had entered camp as a candidate for a rotation spot. The former first-round pick worked mostly in long relief last season but was building back up as a starter this spring. Venable suggested Shuster may move back to the bullpen in Triple-A (link via Daryl Van Schouwen of The Chicago Sun-Times). The Wake Forest product allowed nine runs in seven innings.

Pérez, who signed a $5MM free agent deal, has by far the most experience of anyone in Chicago’s rotation. Cannon, who worked to a 4.49 ERA over 124 1/3 frames, is the only returning pitcher who reached even 75 MLB innings last season. Martin returned from Tommy John surgery in the second half. He allowed 4.32 earned runs per nine over 50 innings down the stretch.

That trio entered camp with rotation spots solidified. It was more in question whether Burke would break camp. The Sox called him up midway through September. He impressed over four appearances, working to a 1.42 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 19 innings. The Maryland product has tossed five innings of three-run ball with three strikeouts and walks apiece this spring. Burke fanned 31% of batters faced over 16 Triple-A starts last season. He also walked 13% of opponents, raising questions about whether he’ll have the necessary command to stick as a starter, but the Sox will see how his stuff plays against MLB hitters.

Venable hasn’t committed to a fifth starter. With Shuster out of consideration, that job will probably fall to one of Bryse Wilson or Shane Smith. Wilson is out of options and has plenty of experience working in long relief. He turned in a 4.04 ERA over 103 2/3 frames for Milwaukee last season; Chicago signed him to a $1.05MM deal after the Brewers non-tendered him. Smith is a Rule 5 pick out of the Milwaukee system. The 6’4″ righty started 16 of 27 Double-A appearances. He allowed 3.08 earned runs per nine with a near-30% strikeout rate over 87 2/3 innings.

Smith has had a decent start to camp. He has fanned nine hitters over 6 2/3 frames, allowing four runs. Chicago shouldn’t have an issue keeping him on the MLB roster to gain his long-term contractual rights. Most Rule 5 pitchers work in low-leverage relief, at least to begin the season. An Opening Day rotation assignment would be rare, but that’s a reflection of the Sox’s lack of starting pitching depth. Non-roster invitee Justin Dunn could also be an option. He has managed eight innings of one-run ball this spring, but he only has two strikeouts against four walks.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/03/sean-burke-to-open-season-in-white-soxs-rotation.html
 
Justin Ishbia Abandons Pursuit Of Twins, Will Increase Minority Stake In White Sox

Billionaire brothers Justin and Mat Ishbia are no longer interested in purchasing the Twins from the Pohlad family, reports Jon Greenberg of The Athletic. Justin Ishbia instead intends to purchase a greater minority share of the White Sox, Greenberg writes. Kurt Badenhousen and Eben Novy-Williams at Sportico reported last month that the Ishbias had purchased a small share of the White Sox back in 2021.

In the short term, the biggest significance is that it’s a major setback in the Twins sale process. The Pohlad family announced in October that they were looking to sell the Minnesota franchise, which they’ve owned for four decades. The Athletic’s Dan Hayes reported in early January that the Pohlads had received robust interest and were hoping to have the sale finalized by Opening Day. There were reportedly multiple interested parties, but the Ishbias seemed the early frontrunners.

Mat and Justin Ishbia co-own the Phoenix franchises in the NBA and WNBA. While Mat Ishbia is the majority owner of the basketball teams, Justin Ishbia would have been the control person had they purchased the Twins. It’s unclear how far down the road the Pohlads got in negotiations, but they’ll now need to turn their attention elsewhere.

Over the longer haul, this is also a potentially seismic development for the White Sox. Greenberg writes that some people familiar with the situation believe this will be a stepping stone to Justin Ishbia eventually assuming majority control of the franchise from Jerry Reinsdorf. White Sox VP of communications Scott Reifert pushed back against that notion. “White Sox limited partners have received an offer from a third party to purchase their shares in the team, providing liquidity for the limited partners on their long-term investment in the club,” he told Greenberg. “This offer to limited partners has no impact on the leadership or operations of the Chicago White Sox and does not provide a path to control.”

Reinsdorf, who turns 89 next week, has owned the White Sox since 1981. He has owned the NBA’s Bulls since the mid-80s. For more than a decade, Reinsdorf has maintained that his family should sell the White Sox after his passing. He reportedly had conversations with a Dave Stewart-led group about a sale last October. It’s not clear whether those talks made progress, though Stewart joined the A’s in a special assistant role last month.

That process also involved some speculation about relocation. The Sox’s lease at Rate Field runs through 2029. Reinsdorf lobbied for a reported $1 billion in public funding for a new stadium in Chicago’s South Loop last year. As of last October, the White Sox were continuing to pursue the South Loop project.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...ill-increase-minority-stake-in-white-sox.html
 
White Sox, Mike Clevinger Agree To Minor League Contract

The White Sox are in agreement with Mike Clevinger on a minor league deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The ACES client receives a non-roster invite to Spring Training.

Clevinger returns to Chicago for what’ll be a third straight season. He signed a $12MM deal with the Sox over the 2022-23 offseason. That was a generally successful pickup, as he turned in a 3.77 earned run average through 24 starts. That came with a below-average strikeout rate for a second consecutive season, leading to a quieter market last winter. Clevinger remained unsigned beyond Opening Day. He eventually returned to Chicago on a $4MM deal.

As a result of the late signing, the veteran righty agreed to start the season in the minors. That afforded him a few weeks to build his arm into game shape. The White Sox recalled him in early May. He took four turns through the rotation, allowing 13 runs (12 earned) across 16 frames. Elbow inflammation shelved him for a couple months. Clevinger was building back from that when the Sox announced in late July that he’d undergo season-ending surgery to address a disc issue in his neck.

The injury-plagued season limited Clevinger to minor league offers as he enters his age-34 campaign. He’s clearly comfortable with the White Sox, where there’s plenty of opportunity in the rotation. Chicago has added Martín Pérez and Bryse Wilson on one-year deals this offseason. No other starter on their 40-man roster has even reached one year of major league service. Clevinger joins Justin Dunn and Jonathan Heasley as non-roster invitees who have MLB experience.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/02/white-sox-mike-clevinger-agree-to-minor-league-contract.html
 
White Sox Release Joey Gallo Ahead Of Move To Pitching

12:51pm: Gallo announced on social media in the aftermath of his release that he plans to convert to pitching going forward. The news shines additional light on Chicago’s decision to release Gallo, who can now search for a fresh minor league deal with a team interested in seeing what he can do on the mound. While Gallo has no professional experience on the mound, he did pitch in high school (even throwing a no-hitter) and has long had among the most impressive throwing arms in the game among position players, which was key to him earning two Gold Gloves in right field.

11:40am: The White Sox have granted Joey Gallo his unconditional release, as relayed by MLB.com’s Scott Merkin. Gallo had been in camp with the club on a minor league deal but will now head back into free agency to try and land a job with another club before Opening Day.

Gallo, 31, is coming off a difficult season with the Nationals where he hit just .161/.277/.336 (76 wRC+) in 260 trips to the plate. It’s the latest chapter in what’s been a very up-and-down career for the slugger, who was a first-round pick by the Rangers in 2012 and was a two-time All-Star across his seven years in Dallas, in 2019 and 2021. In that three season stretch, Gallo hit .209/.351/.477 with a wRC+ of 121. He crushed 70 home runs in just 280 games over those three years, but also struck out at a massive 35.6% clip.

That combination of nearly unmatched power and deep strikeout woes has contributed to a roller-coaster career where Gallo has been at times among the most impactful hitters in the sport and at times well below average. All of that has averaged out to a relatively middling .194/.319/.456 (107 wRC+) line across ten seasons in the majors, and while that’s still decent production overall Gallo hasn’t quite lived up to even that line in recent years. Despite a decent 103 wRC+ with the Twins in 2023, Gallo’s overall slash line over the past three years is just .166/.286/.379 with a well-below average wRC+ of 88. He’s struck out more than 40% of the time during that stretch, and his most productive season in Minnesota actually saw him punch out in a massive 42.8% of his trips to the plate.

Earlier in his career, Gallo helped to make up for his uneven offensive production with strong outfield defense. A two-time Gold Glove award winner in right field during his days with the Rangers who could even be counted on in center if necessary, Gallo’s fallen from grace defensively and now fits best as a roughly average defensive first baseman. Unfortunately, Gallo’s more limited defensive profile in recent years makes him a more difficult fit for a contending club in a bench role, while his offensive peaks and valleys make him difficult to bet on as a full-time starter.

Those concerns all culminated in the White Sox deciding to part ways with the slugger. While getting released by a club that lost the most games in MLB history last year is an ominous sign, it’s worth pointing out that Chicago actually has a relatively deep group of potential options at first base and in the outfield. Andrew Vaughn and Luis Robert Jr. figure to be everyday players at first base and in center field, while Mike Tauchman and Andrew Benintendi figure to capture the lion’s share of the playing time in the outfield corners.

Tauchman, Benintendi, and Gallo are all left-handed bats, so Gallo’s best opportunity for playing time in Chicago would’ve likely been spelling Vaughn at first base with Michael A. Taylor and Austin Slater both better suited for outfield roles. While Benintendi is out due to a hand fracture at the moment, he has yet to be explicitly ruled out for Opening Day and may be able to return fairly early in the season, making carrying a player like Gallo as a fill-in option less sensible.

Even so, however, it could be difficult for Gallo to find a major league gig with less than two weeks until the season begins. As much as injuries have opened up holes in various clubs’ lineups and rotations throughout the spring, there aren’t many obvious vacancies at first base around the league at the moment. Perhaps a club like the Padres, Pirates, or Marlins could use some additional depth at the position, but even those clubs have internal options they appear to be mostly comfortable with headed into Opening Day. With that said, teams certainly value depth and it’s not hard to imagine Gallo catching on with another club who has a less crowded first base and outfield mix on a fresh minor league deal, even if it doesn’t come with an immediate path to big league playing time.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/03/white-sox-release-joey-gallo.html
 
Josh Rojas Diagnosed With Hairline Fracture In Toe

White Sox infielder Josh Rojas has a hairline fracture in his right big toe. Manager Will Venable passed the info on to reporters, including James Fegan of Sox Machine. Rojas is currently in a walking boot. He left Saturday’s game with soreness in that toe. Per Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times, Rojas was “shaking off some contact” with a baserunner on a tag play earlier in the game.

Venable didn’t specifically rule Rojas out for Opening Day, but that seems to be a fair inference. Per Fegan, the skipper said his return will mostly be about pain tolerance and he’s currently in a fair amount of pain. Opening Day is just over a week away and the Sox have little reason to rush him if he’s not 100%.

Rojas, 31 in June, was signed to a one-year, $3.5MM deal in January. When healthy, he will likely be bouncing around to various positions, depending on the performance of other players on the roster. He has primarily played third and second base in his career, though he has also had some appearances at shortstop, first base and the outfield corners.

The hot corner appears to be spoken for. Venable said last month that Miguel Vargas will be the primary third baseman. He’s having a huge spring, currently hitting .393/.455/.571. Andrew Vaughn isn’t performing that well in camp but should be the regular at first base.

There’s less certainty up the middle. There was a chance for Colson Montgomery to secure the shortstop job but he hit .111/.111/.444 in spring and got optioned last week. That left Rojas, Lenyn Sosa, Brooks Baldwin and Jacob Amaya as some of the middle infielders that were both on the roster and in camp. If Rojas needs to miss some time, that could create extra room for the guys in that group.

It could also open some paths to playing time for non-roster invitees. Veteran Brandon Drury has plenty of second base experience and is hitting .361/.395/.806 this spring. Nick Maton is another NRI crushing the ball right now, with a .346/.433/.731 line in camp. Tristan Gray currently has a .353/.333/.824 line going. Spring stats are always to be taken with a grain of salt but the Sox are coming off a 121-loss season and should be using the 2025 to ride any hot hand that comes along.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/03/josh-rojas-diagnosed-with-hairline-fracture-in-toe.html
 
Offseason In Review: Chicago White Sox

The White Sox hired a new manager and cashed in Garrett Crochet for prospects, otherwise making affordable, low-ceiling additions.

Major League Signings


2025 spending: $15.2MM
Total spending: $15.2MM

Option Decisions


Trades and Claims


Notable Minor League Signings


Extensions

  • None

Notable Losses


Chris Getz was hired as White Sox executive vice president/GM in August 2023, inheriting manager Pedro Grifol from previous longtime GM Rick Hahn. After about a year in the GM chair with his team sporting a historically bad 28-89 record on the 2024 season, Getz fired Grifol and installed Grady Sizemore as interim manager for the remainder of the campaign. Managers can occasionally ride out rebuilding years, proving themselves on soft factors and retaining the job when the team gets good. The Orioles' Brandon Hyde did this. Grifol, however, did not warrant that level of faith.

Given a clean offseason slate to choose his own manager, Getz ran an extensive search that included Will Venable, Daniel Descalso, Phil Nevin, George Lombard, A.J. Ellis, Donnie Ecker, Danny Lehmann, Clayton McCullough, Craig Albernaz, and many others whose names did not reach the media. Getz had competition from the Marlins on several of these candidates. He ultimately chose Venable on October 29th. McCullough landed the Marlins gig not long after, while Nevin still landed with Chicago but as a special assistant in their player development department.

The Princeton-educated Venable became the 44th manager in White Sox history, and he takes over a team that has nowhere to go but up. Getz himself was the beneficiary of Jerry Reinsdorf's "I didn’t have to interview these people, because I knew them all" hiring approach, which also netted Tony La Russa as manager in October 2020. So it's always a relief to see the White Sox conduct an extensive search as they did with Venable.

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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/03/offseason-in-review-chicago-white-sox-17.html
 
36 Veteran Players With Looming Opt-Out Dates

The 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement implemented a new series of uniform opt-out dates for players who qualified as free agents under Article XX(b) of said agreement and sign a minor league deal in free agency. More specifically, that designation falls on players with six-plus years of MLB service time who finished the preceding season on a major league roster or injured list. Some contracts for players coming over from a foreign professional league like Nippon Professional Baseball or the Korea Baseball Organization will also have language written into their contracts allowing them to qualify as an XX(b) free agent despite a lack of six years of service.

The three uniform opt-out dates on those contracts land five days before Opening Day, on May 1 and on June 1. With the regular season set to kick off next week, any Article XX(b) free agents who are in camp on minor league contracts will have the opportunity to opt out on Saturday, March 22. A player triggering one of these out clauses gives his current club 48 hours to either add him to the 40-man roster or let him become a free agent.

There are other ways to secure opt-outs in contracts, of course. Many players who don’t qualify for XX(b) designation will still have opt-out opportunities negotiated into their minor league deals in free agency.

The following is a list of 36 players who are in camp as non-roster invitees and will be able to opt out this weekend. Most were XX(b) free agents, but there are a handful of names who didn’t meet that requirement but had outs negotiated into their respective deals nonetheless. This is not a comprehensive list of all players with opt-out opportunities this weekend.

All spring stats referenced are accurate through the completion of games played Wednesday, March 19.

Astros: LHP Jalen Beeks

Beeks, 31, was a relatively late sign (March 7) who’s since tossed three spring frames — including two scoreless innings just yesterday. He logged a 4.50 ERA in 70 innings between the Rockies and Pirates last season. He struggled to miss bats last year but typically runs strong strikeout rates. Dating back to 2020, Beeks carries a 4.16 ERA in 192 2/3 innings. In Josh Hader, Bryan King and Bennett Sousa, the Astros already have three lefty relievers on the 40-man. Another veteran non-roster invitee, Steven Okert, has rattled off 8 2/3 shutout spring innings with a 14-to-2 K/BB ratio. Beeks might have long odds of cracking the roster.

Blue Jays: RHP Jacob Barnes, LHP Ryan Yarbrough

The 34-year-old Barnes logged a 4.36 ERA in a career-high 66 big league innings last season. He posted an ERA north of 5.00 in each of the five preceding seasons (a total of 115 1/3 frames). He’s been tagged for four runs in 5 1/3 innings this spring.

Yarbrough, 33, had a terrific run with the Jays to close out the 2024 season. Joining Toronto in a deadline swap sending Kevin Kiermaier to the Dodgers, the veteran southpaw posted a 2.01 ERA in 31 1/3 innings. He’s a soft-tosser, sitting just 86.5 mph with his heater, but Yarbrough can pitch multiple innings in relief and has a decent track record even beyond last year’s overall 3.19 earned run average (4.21 ERA in 768 MLB innings). He’s allowed three runs with and 8-to-1 K/BB ratio in 6 2/3 innings in camp.

Braves: RHP Buck Farmer, RHP Hector Neris

Farmer was already reassigned to minor league camp on Sunday, so there’d seem to be a good chance of him taking his out. The 34-year-old turned in a terrific 3.04 ERA in 71 innings for the Reds last year but was probably hampered by his age, pedestrian velocity and subpar command in free agency. With a 3.68 ERA in 193 innings over the past three seasons in Cincinnati, he should find an opportunity somewhere — even if it’s not in Atlanta.

Neris is still in Braves camp. He signed well into camp and thus has only pitched one official inning so far, which was scoreless. (Neris is pitching today as well.) He’s looking to bounce back from a 4.10 ERA and a particularly poor performance in save opportunities last year. Prior to his nondescript 2024, Neris rattled off a 3.03 ERA in 208 innings from 2021-23 between Philly and Houston, saving 17 games and collecting 67 holds along the way.

Brewers: 1B/OF Mark Canha, OF Manuel Margot

He’s had a brutal spring, but the 36-year-old Canha has been an above-average hitter every year since 2018, by measure of wRC+. He’s just 2-for-23 in Brewers camp, but he’s slugged a homer and walked as often as he’s fanned (four times apiece). Milwaukee has Rhys Hoskins at first base, but Canha could chip in at DH and offer a right-handed complement to lefty outfielders Sal Frelick and Garrett Mitchell.

Margot hasn’t hit well in a tiny sample of 35 spring plate appearances, but he’s outproduced Canha with a .250/.314/.375 slash. He’s coming off a dismal .238/.289/.337 showing in Minnesota, however, and hasn’t been the plus defender he was prior to a major 2022 knee injury. Like Canha, he could complement Frelick and Mitchell as a righty-swinging outfielder, but Canha has been the far more productive bat in recent seasons.

Cubs: RHP Chris Flexen

The Cubs reassigned Flexen to minor league camp after just 3 2/3 innings this spring. He was hit hard on the other side of town with the White Sox in 2024, though Flexen quietly righted the ship after an awful start. He posted a 5.69 ERA through nine starts but logged a 4.62 mark over his final 21 trips to the mound, including a tidy 3.52 earned run average across 46 innings in his last eight starts. Flexen may not bounce back to his 2021-22 numbers in Seattle, but he’s a durable fifth starter if nothing else.

Diamondbacks: INF/OF Garrett Hampson, RHP Scott McGough

The D-backs don’t really have a backup shortstop while Blaze Alexander is sidelined with an oblique strain, which seems to bode well for Hampson. He’s hitting .235/.333/.324 in camp and can play three infield spots and three outfield positions. He had a bleak .230/.275/.300 performance in Kansas City last year but was a league-average hitter for the Marlins as recently as 2023.

McGough was reassigned to minor league camp yesterday after serving up six runs in 4 2/3 innings of spring work. That wasn’t the follow-up to last year’s gruesome 7.44 ERA for which the 35-year-old righty or the team had hoped.

Giants: C Max Stassi, RHP Lou Trivino

Stassi is battling Sam Huff, who’s on the 40-man, for the backup catcher’s role while Tom Murphy is injured. The 34-year-old Stassi is hitting .300/.364/.700 with a pair of homers in 22 spring plate appearances. He’s a plus defender with a scattershot track record at the plate.

Trivino hasn’t pitched since 2022 due to Tommy John surgery and a separate shoulder issue. He also hasn’t allowed a run in 8 1/3 spring innings. (9-to-4 K/BB ratio). Trivino’s scoreless Cactus League showing, his pre-injury track record and his familiarity with skipper Bob Melvin — his manager in Oakland — all seem to give him a real chance to win a spot.

Mariners: RHP Shintaro Fujinami, RHP Trevor Gott, 1B Rowdy Tellez

Fujinami’s command has never been good, and he’s walked more batters (seven) than he’s struck out (four) through 5 2/3 spring innings. He’s also plunked a pair of batters. He’s looking to bounce back from an injury-ruined 2024 season but might have to take his first steps toward doing so in Triple-A.

Tellez has had a big camp and looks like he could have a real chance to make the club in a part-time DH/first base role, as explored more yesterday. Gott is on the mend from Tommy John surgery performed last March and won’t pitch until midseason. He’s unlikely to opt out.

Mets: RHP Jose Ureña

Ureña was torched for seven runs in his first 1 1/3 spring innings after signing with the Mets on Feb. 27. He bounced back by striking out all three opponents he faced in an inning this past weekend, but he hasn’t helped himself otherwise. Ureña’s 3.80 ERA in 109 innings with Texas last year was his first sub-5.00 ERA since 2017-18 in Miami.

Padres: 1B Yuli Gurriel, INF Jose Iglesias

Both veterans have a legitimate chance to make the club. Gurriel has had a productive spring (.296/.321/.519) at nearly 41 years of age, while Iglesias is out to a 5-for-18 start since signing in mid-March. Gurriel could split time at first and DH, lessening the need to use Luis Arraez in the field. Iglesias could see frequent work at second base, shifting Jake Cronenworth to first base and pushing Arraez to DH. The Padres probably wouldn’t have put a hefty (relative to most minor league deals) $3MM base salary on Iglesias’ deal if they didn’t see a real path to him making the roster.

Pirates: LHP Ryan Borucki

Borucki was great for the Pirates in 2023 and struggled through 11 innings during an injury-marred 2024 season. The 30-year-old southpaw has allowed one run in eight spring innings. His five walks are a bit much, but he’s also fanned 11 of his 33 opponents.

Rangers: SS Nick Ahmed, RHP David Buchanan, RHP Jesse Chavez, OF Kevin Pillar, RHP Hunter Strickland

Ahmed has more homers in 28 spring plate appearances than he had in 228 plate appearances in 2024 or 210 plate appearances in 2023. He’s popped three round-trippers already and slashed .286/.310/.607. With a crowded infield and versatile backups like Josh Smith and Ezequiel Duran, Ahmed might still have a hard time cracking the roster.

None of the three pitchers listed here has performed well in limited work. Buchanan had a nice run as a starter in the KBO in the four preceding seasons, while Chavez has been a mainstay in the Atlanta bullpen for much of the past few years. Strickland had a nice 2024 in Anaheim but signed very late and retired only one of the five batters he faced during his long spring outing.

Pillar may have the best chance of the bunch to make the team. He’s hitting .273/.333/.394 in 39 plate appearances. Outfielders Wyatt Langford and Adolis Garcia have been banged up this spring, so some extra outfield depth could make sense.

Rays: DH/OF Eloy Jimenez

Jimenez homered for the second time yesterday, boosting his Grapefruit line to .263/.300/.447. He’s coming off a dreadful season in 2024, but from 2019-23 the former top prospect raked at a .275/.324/.487 pace, including a 31-homer rookie campaign (admittedly, in the juiced-ball 2019 season). Durability has been a bigger factor than productivity. If the Rays can get Jimenez to elevate the ball more, he could be a bargain; he’s still only 28.

Red Sox: LHP Matt Moore, RHP Adam Ottavino

Moore signed on Feb. 20 and has only gotten into two spring games so far, totaling two innings. Ottavino has pitched four innings but allowed five runs. He’s walked five and tossed a pair of wild pitches in that time. Both pitchers have long MLB track records, but they’re both coming off lackluster seasons.

Reds: LHP Wade Miley

Miley underwent Tommy John surgery early last season and contemplated retirement upon learning his prognosis. He wanted to return to one of his former NL Central clubs in free agency, and the Reds clearly offered a more compelling minor league deal than the Brewers. He’s not going to be a realistic option until late May, and it seems unlikely he’d opt out while his rehab is still ongoing.

Rockies: RHP Jake Woodford

Woodford isn’t an Article XX(b) free agent, but MLBTR has learned that he still has a March 22 opt-out. He made his fourth appearance of Rockies camp yesterday, tossing 2 2/3 innings with an earned run. Woodford has allowed seven runs on 11 hits and three walks with five punchouts and a nice 47.2% grounder rate in 10 2/3 frames this spring. He has experience as a starter and reliever. The righty doesn’t miss many bats but keeps the ball on the ground and has good command. He’s a fifth starter/swingman who’s out of minor league options.

Royals: C Luke Maile, RHP Ross Stripling

Maile is a glove-first backup who’s had a nice spring at the plate but has done so on a team with a healthy Salvador Perez and Freddy Fermin. His path to a roster spot doesn’t look great. Speculatively, his former Reds club, which just lost Tyler Stephenson to begin the year, would make sense if they plan to add an outside catcher. Maile’s .214/.294/.329 performance over the past three seasons is light, but he’s already familiar with the bulk of Cincinnati’s staff. He’s a fine backup or No. 3 catcher for any club, Kansas City included.

Stripling notched a 3.01 ERA in 124 innings for the 2022 Blue Jays, but it’s been rough waters since. He was rocked for a 5.68 ERA across the past two seasons, spending time with both Bay Area clubs, and has been tagged for 11 runs on 14 hits — four of them homers — with just two strikeouts in six spring frames. He’ll likely need a strong Triple-A showing, be it with the Royals or another club, to pitch his way back to the majors.

Tigers: LHP Andrew Chafin

Chafin surprisingly commanded only a minor league deal this offseason and has struggled to begin his third stint with the Tigers. He’s been tagged for eight runs in four spring innings, walking six batters along the way. It’s a rough look, but the affable southpaw notched a 3.51 ERA in 56 1/3 MLB frames last year and touts a 3.12 mark across the past four seasons combined.

White Sox: RHP Mike Clevinger, INF Brandon Drury, OF Travis Jankowski

The ChiSox signed Clevinger for a third time late this spring and are trying him in the bullpen. He’s responded with four shutout innings, allowing only one hit and no walks while fanning six hitters. His 2025 White Sox reunion is out to a much better start than his 2024 reunion, wherein he was limited to only 16 innings with a 6.75 ERA thanks to elbow and neck troubles.

Drury could hardly be doing more to secure a spot with the Pale Hose. He’s decimated Cactus League pitching at a .410/.439/.821 pace, slugging three homers and seven doubles in only 41 plate appearances. He’s coming off a terrible 2024 showing with the Angels but hit .263/.313/.493 from 2021-23. It’d be a surprise if the Sox didn’t keep him.

Jankowski started the spring with the Cubs, was granted his release and signed with the Sox. The hits haven’t been dropping, but he has six walks in 25 plate appearances. The White Sox already have Michael A. Taylor in a fourth outfield role. Andrew Benintendi, who missed three-plus weeks with a fractured hand, was back in the lineup yesterday, making Jankowski something of a long shot.

Yankees: RHP Carlos Carrasco

With a nice spring showing and several injuries in the Yankees’ rotation, Carrasco looks to have a good chance at making the roster. Jack Curry of the YES Network already reported it’s “likely” Carrasco will be added this weekend. Carrasco has a 1.69 ERA with 15 strikeouts and seven walks (plus four hit batters) in 16 spring innings. He tossed five shutout frames yesterday.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/03/36-veteran-players-with-looming-opt-out-dates.html
 
White Sox To Carry Rule 5 Pick Shane Smith On Roster; Drew Thorpe Leaves Start With Elbow Discomfort

There were a couple of notable updates on the White Sox pitching staff today. For one, the club announced that Rule 5 pick Shane Smith will make the team, along with video of him receiving the news and relaying it to his parents. In a less positive update, manager Will Venable told reporters that Drew Thorpe departed a minor league spring game due to elbow discomfort and will likely require some imaging. Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times passed along video of Venable’s comments.

Smith, 25 next month, was the top pick in the Rule 5 draft which took place in November. A Brewers prospect, he had tossed 157 innings over the 2022 through 2024 seasons, allowing 2.69 earned runs per nine. He struck out 32.2% of batters faced while walking 8.4% of opponents, with solid ground ball rates as well.

The workload was fairly minimal. The pandemic had been a major interruption in 2020 and then Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2021. That led to him joining the Brewers as an undrafted free agent. He was working in relief in 2023 but he split his time between the rotation and bullpen in 2024. He got to 94 1/3 innings on the farm last year with a 3.05 ERA.

Despite the solid numbers, the Brewers didn’t add him to their 40-man roster, allowing the White Sox to grab him in the Rule 5. That gave Smith an opportunity to make his big league debut, which he has seized. He has tossed 10 2/3 innings over four spring starts. He allowed four earned runs with 11 strikeouts and four walks. For a White Sox club with little certainty on the pitching staff, that’s more than enough to make the team. As Venable said to Smith in the clip linked above, he made the decision pretty easy for them.

In addition to making the Opening Day roster, Smith might also have a rotation spot to start the year. Venable relayed last week that four rotation spots were taken by Sean Burke, Martín Pérez, Davis Martin and Jonathan Cannon. That seemed to leave Smith and Bryse Wilson as the two favorites for the final rotation job. Wilson has experience pitching as a starter and reliever. As mentioned, Smith has done both in the minors.

Perhaps more clarity will emerge in the coming days about specific roles, but the key thing is that Smith will be with the club. Rule 5 picks can’t be optioned to the minors. If a club doesn’t want to carry a Rule 5 guy on the roster, they need to put him on waivers and then offer him back to his original club if he clears. But Smith did enough to stick around and will get a chance to face major league hitters in official games soon.

Turning to Thorpe, more information will surely come out in the next few days, but it’s an ominous diagnosis for now. One of the top pitching prospects in the league, he was twice part of a blockbuster trade last offseason. He went from the Yankees to the Padres as part of the Juan Soto deal, with the Friars then flipping him to the Sox as part of the Dylan Cease package.

The young righty posted a 1.35 ERA in 11 Double-A starts last year and got promoted to the majors in June, skipping over the Triple-A level. But he posted a 5.48 ERA in his first nine MLB starts and landed on the injured list in early August with a flexor strain in his throwing arm. A month later, it was reported that he would undergo surgery to remove a bone spur from his right elbow. In January, he told reporters that he needed a cortisone shot to deal with some lingering inflammation.

Here in camp, he has been ramping up with bullpens and live batting practice. That led to today’s minor league contest, his first real game action of the year. The fact that it ended with some more elbow discomfort is clearly a worrying development.

Further testing will reveal next steps but a significant injury would be unwelcome in many respects. It’s never good for a pitcher to miss notable development time but Thorpe was also set to have a wide open lane for big league opportunities. The Sox just lost 121 games last year and will have lots of starts available this year for anyone who earns them. If Thorpe is on the shelf, he obviously wouldn’t be able to take advantage of that clear path.

Photo courtesy Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...horpe-leaves-start-with-elbow-discomfort.html
 
Drew Thorpe To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

The White Sox announced that right-hander Drew Thorpe will undergo a Tommy John surgery. Dr. Keith Meister will perform the procedure, and Thorpe will miss the next 13-15 months in recovery.

The news caps off a brutal stretch of health struggles for the 24-year-old righty. Thorpe’s rookie season was cut short by a flexor strain in early August, and he underwent a surgery in early September to remove a bone spur from his throwing elbow. The recovery process didn’t go entirely smoothly, as Thorpe got a cortisone shot in January to help overcome some lingering discomfort from the procedure. Thorpe then had a slow ramp-up during Spring Training and didn’t make his first in-game appearance until a minor league appearance on Thursday, but then that outing was cut short when he left with elbow discomfort.

A second-round pick for the Yankees in the 2022 draft, Thorpe quickly emerged as a well-regarded prospect, and he has already been part of two major trades in his young career. New York included Thorpe as one of the five players sent to the Padres last offseason as part of the Juan Soto trade, and San Diego then flipped Thorpe (and three other players) to the White Sox a few months later in the deal that brought Dylan Cease to the Friars’ rotation.

After that tumultuous offseason, Thorpe looked to settle in as a major piece of Chicago’s rebuilding efforts, and he looked great over 11 starts at the Double-A level. The Sox then decided to call Thorpe straight up to the Show without a stop at Triple-A, and Thorpe perhaps understandably struggled in posting a 5.48 ERA over 44 1/3 innings against MLB hitters.

His next big league start now won’t come until at least midway through the 2026 season, as Thorpe and the White Sox will lose over a full year of important developmental time. Even if Thorpe had started the year at Triple-A, a good showing in the minors would’ve surely gotten him back to the majors in due course, with an eye towards fully establishing himself as a part of the future on the South Side. If there’s any silver lining for Thorpe, it is the fact that spending the year on the big league version of the 60-day injured list will bank him a full year of Major League service time.

The White Sox obviously weren’t expected to contend this season, but losing Thorpe is still a tough blow to the rotation. Manager Will Venable announced earlier this week that Rule 5 Draft pick Shane Smith would break camp with the team, and step into the rotation spot left open by Thorpe’s absence. Sean Burke, Jonathan Cannon, Davis Martin, and veteran Martin Perez around out the rest of the projected starting five.

Thorpe is the fourth Sox pitcher to require a TJ surgery in the last two months, as the injury bug has taken a big bite out of the team’s ranks of young pitchers. Prelander Berroa, Ky Bush, and 40-man roster member Juan Carela will all be sidelined into the 2026 season after undergoing the procedure.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/03/drew-thorpe-to-undergo-tommy-john-surgery.html
 
White Sox Claim Mike Vasil Off Waivers From Rays

The White Sox announced this afternoon that they’ve claimed right-hander Mike Vasil off waivers from the Rays. Right-hander Prelander Berroa was transferred to the 60-day injured list in order to make room for Vasil on the club’s 40-man roster.

Vasil, who celebrated his 25th birthday last week, has had a busy offseason. The longtime Mets farmhand was plucked from the club in the Rule 5 draft by the Phillies but was traded to the Rays for cash considerations shortly thereafter. He spent Spring Training with his newest club in Tampa, posting a 5.91 ERA in 10 2/3 innings of work, but ultimately did not make the club’s Opening Day roster. That led the Rays to place Vasil on waivers. If he had cleared waivers, he would’ve been offered back to the Mets, but instead the White Sox plucked him off the waiver wire and will now bring him into the fold along with all the roster stipulations that pertain to a typical Rule 5 player.

It’s not necessarily a surprise for a rebuilding club like the White Sox to dedicate roster spots to Rule 5 draftees, and some Rule 5 players like Garrett Whitlock and Anthony Santander have gone on to be valuable pieces for their new clubs after being drafted. With that being said, Vasil is coming off a 2024 campaign where he struggled to a 6.04 ERA in 134 innings of work at Triple-A Syracuse while still in the Mets organization. Providing any sort of major league production after struggling that badly at the highest level of the minors the year prior would be impressive in any context, but it would be especially impressive for a player in Vasil’s situation who cannot be optioned to the minor leagues.

With that being said, Vasil’s been viewed as scouts as a likely future starting pitcher capable of eating innings at the back of a rotation for years, and the White Sox are a club that’s clearly in need of innings. Fellow Rule 5 draft pick Shane Smith is also being carried on the club’s roster to open the season, and Smith appears to be in the mix alongside Bryse Wilson for the fifth spot in the club’s rotation behind Davis Martin, Jonathan Cannon, Martin Perez, and Sean Burke. Of that group, only Perez has made more than 21 starts in a big league season before. With so little experience in the club’s rotation mix, having an innings eater like Vasil available to take on spot starts or even carry the load in a long relief role could be quite valuable.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/03/white-sox-claim-mike-vasil-off-waivers-from-rays.html
 
White Sox Release Brandon Drury

The White Sox announced this morning that they’ve released infielder Brandon Drury. As an article XX(B) free agent, Drury had the opportunity to opt out and test free agency this weekend if he was not added to Chicago’s 40-man roster. Notably, Scott Merkin of MLB.com was among those to note yesterday that the infielder recently suffered a thumb fracture, which left him poised to miss the beginning of the season.

Drury, 32, suffered through a brutal season with the Angels last year where he hit just .169/.242/.228 in 97 games, which led him to sign a minor league deal with the White Sox last month. Drury’s time in camp with Chicago could hardly have gone better, however, and his incredible .410/.439/.821 slash line in 41 trips to the plate this spring seemingly made him a lock for the club’s Opening Day roster until his aforementioned fractured thumb threw those plans off course. It’s surely a frustrating situation for both Drury himself and the White Sox, with Chicago now poised to rely on some combination of Lenyn Sosa, Josh Rojas, Nick Maton, and Jacob Amaya up the middle with Drury no longer in the fold, though top prospect Colson Montgomery could force himself into the lineup at some point this year.

As for Drury, he’ll return to free agency coming off that phenomenal spring performance in hopes of catching on with another club with whom he can rehab his thumb injury and eventually return to lineup. Prior to his disastrous 2024 season, Drury enjoyed a solid stretch of three seasons with the Mets, Reds, Padres, and Angels where he slashed .263/.313/.493 with a wRC+ of 118 in 314 games, showing he can provide above average offensive production while handling either second or third base when he’s on. Whether or not he’ll be able to return to that quality production in 2025 once his thumb has healed remains to be seen, but it would hardly be a shock to see a club in need of infield depth offer him an opportunity in the coming days.

The Brewers are one example of a club that’s thin at third base, while the Astros could theoretically use some extra depth at the keystone after moving Jose Altuve to left field. The Yankees are also known to be in the market to upgrade their infield mix, while teams like the Mets and Twins have suffered injuries to key infield pieces this spring. Any of those clubs could be at least speculative fits for Drury’s services, though assuming he’s willing to take another non-roster deal it’s not hard to imagine a number of clubs being able to find playing time for him at Triple-A as a versatile depth option.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/03/white-sox-release-brandon-drury.html
 
White Sox Release Omar Narváez, Reassign Chase Meidroth

The White Sox today informed catcher Omar Narváez and infielder Chase Meidroth that they would not be making the Opening Day roster. The news was relayed by James Fegan of Sox Machine. Meidroth, a prospect not on the 40-man roster, will start the season at Triple-A Charlotte. Narváez is a veteran who was in camp on a minor league deal. He had an opt-out in that deal and has now been released, though Fegan suggests it’s possible he re-signs on a new minor league deal.

Narváez, 33, has had some good seasons but is coming off a rough two-year stretch. He signed a two-year, $15MM deal with the Mets going into 2023 but that pact went south quickly. He suffered a significant left calf strain in the first season of the deal. He only got into 49 games and hit just .211/.283/.297. To start 2024, he put up a line .154/.191/.185 and was released in early June. A minor league deal with the Astros didn’t get him back on track, as he hit .196/.325/.304 for their Triple-A club down the stretch.

For what it’s worth, his numbers have been more respectable in camp with the White Sox. He had a .250/.400/.333 line in 30 spring plate appearances. However, the Sox are going to roll with Korey Lee and Matt Thaiss as their catching duo, which squeezed out Narváez.

He’ll now have a chance to see what opportunities are available to him in the next few days. He had a solid track record prior to that ill-fated Mets deal, with a .251/.334/.374 career batting line and 96 wRC+ through the end of the 2022 season. His defense wasn’t well regarded when he first made the big leagues but became stronger as his career progressed. Several clubs in the league are dealing with catcher injuries, so he might get a few calls, but it also seems possible he returns to the Sox to give them some non-roster depth.

As for Meidroth, he was just acquired from the Red Sox as part of the Garrett Crochet deal. He spent last year at Triple-A and hit .293/.437/.400 over 122 games. That perhaps gave him a chance to crack the big league roster out of camp but he hit just .154/.313/.179 here in the spring.

That will get him sent back to the Triple-A level to start the year but a midseason promotion should be attainable with a good stretch of play. He has spent a lot of time at the three infield spots to the left of first base and the Sox don’t have a lot of certainty in their middle infield right now, with guys like Jacob Amaya and Lenyn Sosa seemingly slated for a lot of playing time.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/03/white-sox-release-omar-narvaez-reassign-chase-meidroth.html
 
Dan Altavilla Opts Out Of White Sox Deal

Dan Altavilla exercised an out clause in his minor league deal with the White Sox, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The right-hander was granted his release and is again a free agent.

Chicago gave Altavilla a non-roster invite to big league camp in December. He had a solid Spring Training, working 9 2/3 innings of three-run ball with 11 strikeouts. The White Sox nevertheless opted not to carry him on the big league roster, sending him back to the open market.

Altavilla made five appearances for the Royals last season. He gave up six runs across 3 2/3 frames before sustaining an oblique strain that knocked him out of action for two months. Kansas City waived him rather than reinstate him onto the MLB roster once he was healthy. That was Altavilla’s first major league work since he made two appearances for the Padres in 2021.

The 32-year-old spent most of last season with K.C.’s Triple-A club. He turned in a 3.51 ERA with a 22.2% strikeout rate and a 12.9% walk percentage across 41 innings. The Triple-A and Spring Training numbers should land him a minor league deal somewhere.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/03/dan-altavilla-opts-out-of-white-sox-deal.html
 
White Sox To Select Nick Maton, Travis Jankowski

The White Sox have some more roster moves to come. Per Scott Merkin of MLB.com, infielder Brooks Baldwin, infielder Nick Maton and outfielder Travis Jankowski all made the team. Maton and Jankowski aren’t yet on the 40-man roster, so a couple of spots will have to be opened for them. Per James Fegan of Sox Machine, Tyler Gilbert will start the season on the injured list.

Maton, 28, signed a minor league deal with the club in December and has had a strong camp. He hit .289/.357/.632 in his 43 Cactus League plate appearances, which will get him a chance to return to the majors.

He’s been given some chances in the big leagues before, thanks to some strong work on the farm, but those auditions have generally been brief and unsuccessful. He has a line of .267/.375/.454 over the past three minor league seasons, production which translates to a wRC+ of 118. He’s also been put into 185 major league games over the past four seasons but with a tepid line of .205/.303/.357 in those.

The Sox have plenty of uncertainty on their roster and Maton can move all around. He has big league experience at the three infield spots to the left of first base, in addition to some outfield work. He’s also played first in the minors and could be an option there as well. The Sox figure to have Miguel Vargas and Andrew Vaughn at the corner infield spots but the middle infield is less certain. Baldwin, Lenyn Sosa and Jacob Amaya are options but each is fairly lacking in experience, so Maton can earn some playing time in there.

Maton is out of options and can’t be sent to the minors if he doesn’t click. But if he is finally able to carry some of his strong offense up to the majors, he can be controlled for another four seasons since his service clock is just a bit over the two-year line.

Jankowski, 34 in June, has a long track record as a glove-first outfielder. He’s been in 681 big league games over his decade-long career with a .236/.319/.305 batting line. But he has 102 steals and strong defensive grades. Mike Tauchman seems likely to start the season on the injured list due to a hamstring strain and Andrew Benintendi might be the regular designated hitter. That leaves the White Sox with an outfield mix of Luis Robert Jr., Michael A. Taylor, Austin Slater and Jankowski.

The moves could lead to more domino effects. The Sox already designated Oscar Colás for assignment earlier today. If they plan to select Mike Clevinger, they’ll need to open three more 40-man spots for him, Maton and Jankowski. Drew Thorpe will be able to open one of those by getting placed on the 60-day injured list, since he’ll miss the season recovering from Tommy John surgery, but the Sox will have to find two more.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/03/white-sox-to-select-nick-maton-travis-jankowski.html
 
MLBTR Podcast: What We Learned From The Offseason

The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

  • At the start of the offseason, we expected players to do better than in 2023-24 and it seems like they did. What can we learn from that? (1:50)
  • Apart from Juan Soto and Willy Adames, a lot of top position players have been struggling in free agency. Is this signal or noise? (7:10)
  • There seems to be growing frustration from fans of small-market clubs, with new CBA talks just over the horizon. How will baseball respond? (20:00)
  • The Mets outbid the Yankees on Soto. Is this a paradigm shift in New York? (36:40)
  • Does the Soto deal help the top of next year’s market, guys like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Kyle Tucker? (45:50)
  • Many Central division teams had almost no money to spend due to TV revenue concerns. Are there solutions coming in the future? (54:40)
  • With the Rays stadium situation, the Twins being for sale, the White Sox and Royals trying to get new stadium money, is expansion possible in the near term? (59:30)
  • Things we’re excited about going into the 2025 season (1:05:55)

Check out our past episodes!


The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/03/mlbtr-podcast-what-we-learned-from-the-offseason.html
 
White Sox Designate Jake Eder, Dominic Fletcher For Assignment

The White Sox announced this morning that they’ve designated left-hander Jake Eder and outfielder Dominic Fletcher for assignment. They’ve also placed righty Drew Thorpe on the 60-day injured list while he recovers from Tommy John surgery. That trio of moves clears the way for righty Mike Clevinger, infielder Nick Maton and outfielder Travis Jankowski to be selected to the big league roster. (Maton and Jankowski were already known to have made the club.) All three had been non-roster invitees in camp this spring.

Eder, 26, was a fourth-round pick by the Marlins out of Vanderbilt back in 2020. He was considered one of the best prospects in Miami’s system when the Sox acquired him in a straight-up swap for slugger Jake Burger back at the 2023 trade deadline. Prior to Eder requiring Tommy John surgery late in the 2021 season, he’d even begun to garner some attention on midseason iterations of top-100 prospect rankings at Baseball America (No. 68) and MLB.com (No. 81).

At the time of the trade, Eder was just making his way back from that UCL repair. He’d pitched 39 1/3 innings in the Marlins’ minor league system and showed well. He was rocked in five starts with the White Sox’ Double-A club following the swap, but for a then-24-year-old just returning from major surgery, it wasn’t necessarily a shock to see him fade down the stretch.

Eder’s 2024 struggles, however, were more concerning. The left-hander split last season between Double-A and Triple-A, working to a combined 6.61 earned run average with glaring command troubles. Eder fanned a quality 24.4% of his opponents but also walked 11.6% of the batters he faced — including a sky-high 16.1% of his opponents in nine Triple-A starts. He also plunked five hitters and was charged with 10 wild pitches. His spring work wasn’t any better; Eder faced 13 hitters in 2 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on a pair of hits and three walks with four strikeouts.

Fletcher, 27, came over from the D-backs last offseason in a one-for-one swap that sent pitching prospect Cristian Mena to Arizona. He got a decent look in the South Siders’ outfield but turned in only a .206/.252/.256 slash in 241 trips to the plate. He’d been coming off a strong 2023 showing that saw him hit .291/.399/.500 in Triple-A and .301/.350/.441 in 102 plate appearances during his MLB debut.

Fletcher not only struggled in the majors, however, but also hit poorly in the minors. He clearly fell out of favor, as the Sox instead signed both Mike Tauchman and Michael A. Taylor to big league deals, pushing Fletcher down the depth chart. Even with Tauchman opening the season on the injured list due to a right hamstring strain, Fletcher didn’t make the cut and now is off the 40-man roster entirely.

The Sox will have the next five days to trade Eder and/or Fletcher. If no deal is reached by then, the pair would be placed on waivers, which is another 48-hour process. Either could be waived before that point, but the maximum length of their DFA window will seven days. Eder still has two minor league option years remaining. Fletcher has one.

As for Clevinger, he’ll return for a third stint with the ChiSox, this time in a bullpen role. The 34-year-old fired six shutout innings as a reliever during camp, fanning eight of 21 opponents (38.1%) against just one walk (4.8%). He’s far and away the most experienced pitcher in Chicago’s bullpen and could find his way to late-inning work early on, given the youth of the Sox’ bullpen. Clevinger, Bryse Wilson and Penn Murfee are the only Sox relievers with even a year of major league service (and much of Murfee’s MLB service has been spent on the 60-day IL).
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/03/white-sox-dfa-jake-eder-dominic-fletcher.html
 
White Sox Designate Oscar Colas For Assignment, Claim Greg Jones From Rockies

The White Sox have designated outfielder Oscar Colas for assignment and claimed infielder/outfielder Greg Jones off waivers from the Rockies, per a team announcement. Chicago optioned Jones and righty Justin Anderson to Triple-A Charlotte. The Sox also reassigned infielders Bobby Dalbec, Tristan Gray and Chase Meidroth to minor league camp alongside righties James Karinchak and Steven Wilson.

Now 26 years old, Colas came to the White Sox with considerable fanfare. The Cuban-born slugger was touted as one of the more intriguing prospects on the 2020-21 and 2021-22 international amateur markets. He bizarrely (and frankly, unfairly) drew comparisons to Shohei Ohtani, of all players, for his plus raw power and because he’d dabbled in pitching during his time in Cuba and a brief foray into Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Outlandish as that comparison was, it did set some unrealistic expectations among fans who were dreaming on Colas as a potential superstar.

Even before the White Sox signed him, Colas had signaled that he no longer intended to pitch and that he’d focus his efforts on his work as a position player. He formally signed with Chicago in Jan. 2022 for a reported $2.7MM bonus. Colas went on to tear through minor league pitching that season, slashing .314/.371/.524 with 23 homers across three levels. Strong as those rate stats were, his production came with some red flags. Colas spent the bulk of the season playing against younger and less experienced competition, and he rarely walked. His strikeout rates also climbed rapidly as he moved from High-A to Double-A to Triple-A.

The Sox gave Colas his big league debut in 2023, and he quickly looked overmatched. In 75 games and 263 plate appearances, he hit just .216/.257/.314 with a tiny 4.6% walk rate and a bloated 27.6% strikeout rate. Of the 328 big league hitters with at least 250 plate appearances in 2023, Colas chased balls off the plate at the 13th-highest rate, per Statcast, despite also turning in a well below-average contact rate on such swings. Only 39 of those 328 hitters had a lower overall contact rate than Colas.

For all of Colas’ big league struggles in 2023, he at least turned in a .272/.345/.465 line in Triple-A Charlotte. That was league-average production by measure of wRC+ — a testament to the hitter-friendly nature of the Triple-A International and Pacific Coast Leagues. Colas showed solid discipline in the minors, walking at a 9.2% clip against a roughly average 22.3% strikeout rate.

The 2024 season brought considerable regression. Colas hit only .246/.332/.400 in Triple-A. His 11% walk rate was an improvement, and his 23.1% strikeout rate effectively matched the prior season, but Colas’ power deteriorated. He also became increasingly prone to hitting grounders and harmless infield flies; nearly one-quarter of his fly balls in Triple-A last year registered as infield flies. That’s more than double the 10.3% MLB average. Despite the Sox fielding a historically bad team, they scarcely gave Colas a look; he logged only 38 plate appearances and hit .273/.368/.273 while fanning 10 times (26.3%). Spring training hasn’t done Colas any favors. He received only 18 official plate appearances and went 4-for-16 with seven strikeouts.

The White Sox will now trade Colas or place him on waivers within the next five days. Outright waivers are a 48-hour process, which could drag his stay in DFA limbo out to a maximum of one week. Though he was a touted prospect not long ago, Colas’ struggles and limited skill set might allow Chicago to keep him. Today’s front offices typically aren’t enamored of power-focused corner bats with questionable on-base skills and sub-par defensive acumen.

In Jones, the Sox will pick up one of the sport’s fastest players. The 27-year-old has only six MLB plate appearances to his credit — he went 1-for-6 with a homer for Colorado last year — but drew 80 grades for his speed as a prospect. Jones went 46-for-49 in stolen bases at the Triple-A level last year despite being limited to just 89 games by injury. He hit .267/.344/.453 with the Rockies’ top affiliate (99 wRC+).

Jones is in the last of his three minor league option years. The former Rays first-rounder has split the bulk of his pro career between shortstop and center field. He’ll give the South Siders some depth at both spots and would presumably be an option in the outfield corners or at second base and third base as well. The Rockies gave him 64 games in center, 16 at shortstop, eight at second base and four in right field last year.

Colorado picked Jones up in a March 2024 trade sending left-handed pitching prospect Joe Rock to the Rays. The Rockies are left without anything to show for that swap now, whereas Rock has blossomed into a nearly MLB-ready rotation prospect for Tampa Bay. Rock profiles as more of a back-end starter or multi-inning reliever than a top-of-the-rotation talent, but the swap has clearly worked out in the Rays’ favor to this point.
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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...r-colas-claim-greg-jones-waivers-rockies.html
 
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